A screening of the new James Bond epic, Spectre, was cancelled at a London cinema yesterday after a man in the queue was shot with a poison dart – believed to have been fired from a passing car.

Disappointed cinema-goers at The Rialto in Cripplegate, East London, were given refunds and complimentary tickets to any future screening.

An eye-witness told us: “A black E-Class Mercedes with blacked-out windows drove past slowly as we waited to get in. I saw one of the rear windows wind down. Inside I could see this huge Chinese bloke in a bowler hat. He had a blowpipe in his mouth and seemed to puff out his cheeks and blow into it. The next thing I knew, the geezer in front of me collapsed to the deck, clutching his neck. I couldn’t believe it to be honest with you”

This is the second fatal incident to hit the venue in the last two years following the death of a man, who hanged himself in the toilets in the intermission during a screening of 50 Shades of Grey.

The coroner’s verdict in that instance was: Death by misadventure due to terminal boredom.